Lately I’ve been a home-body. I’ve been cooking up big batch meals so I don’t have to cook every night, and to be honest, we have been eating out a lot too – I’m just tired by the end of the day, aren’t you?

In my head, winter should be over – I mean, we have had the big snow, it has been a frozen tundra, and just recently I was able to see grass again. Isn’t February the longest month? It’s around this time when I get a little stir crazy and need a vacation. Hopefully all this snow we just got will melt on Tuesday when it’s 60 degrees out.

I’m all about quick and easy – so these cute little single serve Key lime pies have been pretty popular in my house these days.  They are sweet and tart, and just bring a little brightness to this winter. I like Key Lime pies because they are 3 ingredients and take no time at all to make. I use Nelly and Joe’s Key West Lime juice (I may have even picked it up at Bed Bath and Beyond with my 20% off coupon). Here’s the recipe, super easy:

14oz can of sweetened condensed milk

3 egg yolks (don’t use the whites)

1/2 cup of Key West lime juice

Directions: Mix all ingredients together until smooth. Pour filling into pre-made graham cracker pie shells. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before placing in refrigerating.

Viola! Done. Take out and top with whipped cream and sprinkle with a little lime zest and you have yourself one fancy looking, it looks like I spent all day in the kitchen, dessert.

Enjoy!

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Rosebud has been on my list for some time now. I’ve been wanting to try their boozy shakes and their pies. They’re located in Somerville and only open for lunch on Fridays. They also serve brunch on Saturdays AND Sundays! I decided to head in to do some research for my Pi Day post. I manage to sneak into a spot in the open lot across the street. The pay lot accepts credit cards – yay, otherwise, try grabbing a spot on the street. From the front the restaurant looks tiny, just a little car, but when you go inside, you realize that there is a whole restaurant behind it. I love the decor, from the bright green bar chairs to the large statement mirrors on the wall.

It’s hard to decide what to order, but we end up going with the griddle cheeseburger and the pulled pork sandwich. The cheeseburger ($11.95) comes with yellow cheese, lettuce, shaved onion, pickles and WGS (wicked good sauce). For a few dollars more you can add an over easy egg or some smoked bacon. The burger comes with crinkle cut fries, but you could get onion rings too…or in this case, half and half.  I went with the pulled pork sandwich ($9.95) that came with pulled smoked pork, creamy slaw, pickles and a house sweet heat sauce. The sauce is finger licking good and the pulled pork is really tender. Other lunch menu items include: croquet monsieur, pesto chicken, tuna toastie, mushroom melt, flatbreads, smoked chicken wings, wedge salad, and Thai sticky ribs.

They have a rotating menu of pies that change monthly. This month they have mocha cream, blueberry crumble, peanut butter fudge, Dutch apple, and cranberry pear. You can try a slice or grab a whole pie to go. We couldn’t resist the mocha cream pie. The filling was light as air and SO decadent. The pie crust wasn’t the best I’ve ever had, but the filling more than made up for it.

What’s your favorite pie?

Rosebud American Kitchen and Bar

381 Summer Street, Somerville, MA

http://www.rosebudkitchen.com

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I barely passed geometry in grade school, but I can certainly get behind Pi Day. Each year, Pi Day is on 3/14 – get it? So I did some research to tell you where you can buy all the best pies to celebrate the day. I mean, we all have to do our part right?

So my fellow bloggers and I (together we are “Go Local Boston“) got together to taste test and photograph some pies last week. Check out their blogs here:

Nancy from Capability : Mom

Kim from KimWorld and Family Friendly Boston

Leah from Leah’s Life: Pearls and Oysters

If you’re out doing some grocery shopping for snowmageddon, make sure to stop at your local farm to kill two birds with one stone. If you stop over at Pemberton Farms you can get a Key Lime Pie from The Pie Guy. Key lime is one of my favorites! Wilson Farm in Lexington is my new favorite place to shop. Not only do I buy tons of prepared foods (don’t judge) from them but they also have a great bakery and nice selection of specialty goods. They make their own mixed berry pies (top photo – pie is in the bottom left hand corner with the lattice crust) which are delicious. I bought the smaller size which could totally be considered an “individual” size – I won’t tell.

Another favorite of mine is Verrill Farm in Concord. They have my very favorite pies – apple crumb. I almost don’t want to let you in on these pies because I love them so much and sometimes they run out! They have so much more than pie at Verrill, check out their website for fun classes and events.

Feeling like you don’t trust yourself with a whole pie at home? Head over to Rosebud American Kitchen and Bar for a good meal and a slice of pie for dessert. Oh, and you can totally take home a whole pie with you too! (again, not judging) The flavors this month are mocha cream (the filling is SO dreamy), blueberry crumble, peanut butter fudge, Dutch apple and cranberry pear. Stay tuned for a blog post about my meal here!

Leah recently introduced me to Hi Rise Bread Company, they have locations in Cambridge on Mass Ave and Huron Ave. They have delicious sandwiches and a killer baked goods counter. I love, love, love the vanilla bread (I’m drooling as I’m thinking about it – order the end piece, trust me!) but they also recently had these tasty lemon meringue pies that look (almost) too good to eat!

New on our radar, thanks to Kim, is Shoofly Pie Baking Co. Get this, it’s a PIE DELIVERY company!! That’s right, delivery! Kelli makes these beautiful pies – I am SO impressed with lattice crust. My heart broke a little bit when we had to cut into her pie, but it was so worth it. I almost forgot it was a cherry pie, the filling was so dark – it was like no other cherry pie I’ve ever had. Beautiful whole cherries – you won’t be sorry. Pie flavors change weekly, this week’s pies are as follows:

Savory – Cauliflower Manchego Rosemary: Creamy cauliflower with earthy manchego, rosemary and red onions baked in a traditional flaky crust.

Sweet – Malted Double Chocolate: Silky malted milk chocolate pie baked in a dark chocolate crust.

Pies come in two sizes, a small 5″ pie and a large 9″ pie.

One of my recent favorite meals I had was from Southern Kin Cookhouse in Assembly Row. See my post about them here. We went back just to taste the other flavors of pie. You can get a slice for $7 or a whole pie for $36. Pies come in the following flavors:

Buttermilk Pie: vanilla and lemon scented buttermilk custard with nutmeg

Pappy’s Mud Pie: chocolate fudge pie with chocolate ganache and crumbled almond praline

Georgia’s Peach Crumble Pie: with caramel sauce and chantilly cream

Key Lime Pie: with toasted meringue and candied lime

Coconut Cream Pie: with toasted coconut and bourbon toffee sauce

Brown Butter Bourbon Pecan Pie: with chocolate ganache sauce

There isn’t a pie here that I didn’t like. Ok, well that’s not entirely true. I’m not a coconut kind of gal, so I didn’t try that one. The key lime pie, above, was AMAZING. I love the meringue top – it just adds a whole other dimension to the pie. I can never go back to having it without. The pie filling was sweet and tart and the meringue was light as air.

I didn’t read the description of the mud pie before we ordered it, so I was surprised at its consistency. I was thinking it was going to be an ice cream pie, but was really pleasantly surprised when this came out. This is fork licking delicious – I wanted this one all to myself!

Petsi Pies has both sweet and savory pies. I’ve known about them for a long time, they never disappoint. Above is the bacon, leek and gruyere pie. Delicious, perfect for a brunch! This was a great addition to our taste test because it gave us a break from all the sweet pies! They also offer a spinach ricotta with pie nuts and a roasted vegetable and goat cheese savory pie. Did you know they make chicken pot pies? They come in two seizes, a 5″ and a 10″. See the top photo, middle row on the right with the chicken on it. Loved the consistency of the filling, not runny at all.

So cherry pie has always been my dad’s thing. Me, I’m a pure apple kind of gal. That is, until I had Petsi’s cherry crumb pie. There’s just something about it, I can’t put my finger on it, that I just love. Stop in to Petsi for a slice, or pick up a whole pie. If you need a whole pie, best to order ahead – give them 48 hours.

The banana chocolate cream pie is not one that I would normally gravitate to, but the one was light, and not too banana-y. Look at all that beautiful whipped cream!

Some popular savory pies can be found at KO Pies, either at the shipyard or in South Boston. You pop these beauties right out of the tin and eat them with your hands. Check out this cute instruction manual on how to eat their pies. We tried the classic beef, the curried vegetable, the lamb shank, the pie of the month which was a pulled pork and a beef stew. Enjoy a hot one on location or pick up a few frozen ones to go! Let me just tell you that the pie crust is AMAZING. It’s light and flakey, you could put any filling in it and it would be delicious. Worth noting is the sausage roll at KO Pies, and while not an actual “pie”, it should not be missed!

I couldn’t have a review of pies and not include Centerville Pie Company. I mean, they ARE Oprah approved! Check out my post about them here. The bottom left is the Cape Cod Crunch pie, only offered in their store in Centerville. Can’t make it to the Cape? Don’t worry, their delicious savory chicken pies can be found in your local grocery store in the freezer section.

And last but certainly not least, Ever So Humble Pie Company. I pick them up from Volante Farms in Needham or Brothers Marketplace in Weston. Their jumble berry pie my favorite, with cranberries, strawberries, blueberries and orange zest. Here are just some of the other flavors they offer:

New England Apple – Freshly peeled apples tossed with brown sugar and spices, heaped high beneath our delicate, flaky crust.
Wild Blueberry – Flavorful and juicy wild blueberries, kissed with lemon, nestled inside our tender, flaky crust.
Black & Blue – Two of summers most flavorful berries – blackberries and blueberries – together in one pie with fresh lemon and cinnamon.
Blue Barb – Plump and sweet blueberries partnered with tart rhubarb and a dash of orange zest.
Blue Raspberry – Tart red raspberries together with sweet, juicy blueberries enhanced with fresh lemons and a touch of cinnamon.
Cherry – Tart, Michigan grown cherries enhanced with a dash of pure almond oil.

Did I miss anywhere? Let me know where your favorite pies are from!

Disclaimer: The Shoofly Pie Company delivered a complimentary cherry pie and hand pies for this piece. We were guests of KO Pies and our 5 pies were provided complimentary (but we bought and walked out with a dozen frozen ones ). As noted in my previous post, my pies at Centerville Pie Company were provided complimentary.

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January is all about catching up on posts from the end of the year. With the holidays and the new year, time just flew! So back at the end of November, Leah, Dori and I headed over to the Harpoon Brewery for the Dundee VI Brawl at the Hall. People packed in to taste meat pies made by local celebrity chefs. Previous winners are as follows: 1) Sam Monsour 2) Chin Kuo (Saus) 3) Samuel Jackson (KO Pies) 4) Chin Kuo (Saus) 5) Current champs, Mike DiSabatino and James DiSabatino (Roxy’s).

In the spirit of competition, they had some pretty amusing chef bios. Here’s just one:

Ryan “The Pork Peddler” McGuire was born on the mean streets of Cape Cod. At an early age he realized that he did not have a jump shot, so his only chance for fame and dollar bills was to sling pork out of the back door of his mother’s kitchen. With bigger aspirations than pork on the Cape, he grabbed his brother Kevin “The Sloppy Sailor” McGuire on a journey to make the greatest pork meat pie known to man. With a slab of pork in one hand and a dark and stormy in the other, they have achieved greatness peddling the world’s best pork pies. They will be entering the meat pie octagon with a mariachi band in tow playing their theme music of “momma gonna knock you out” so everyone knows how serious they really are about knocking out the competition with their pork.

Everyone got a score card that the chefs marked off when you went up to get a pie. The event was really well run, you never really waited in line too long for a pie.

First up the Shepard’s Pie Meat Pie – Stewed lamb and beef, smoked corn gravy, habanero and jack cheesy mash, black garlic ketchup. When I think of lamb, I think gamey. This wasn’t at all and it had a little bit of a kick to it! Some serious comfort food!

Shrimp, Oyster and Crab Gumbo. All the pie crust were made by KO Pies, and this one was perfect. The filling was so flavorful!

“Lobster Rangoon” with butter poached lobster, allium cream cheese and sweet and sour sauce. I think that people were wowed by the ingredients of this pie. It was creamy but the mint and sweet and sour sauces really kicked the pie up a notch.

Al Pastor with pineapple, mushroom and chicharron. This was delicious, well balance flavors and I loved the sweetness.

North Shore Three Way – Roast seasoned beef, American cheese, brown bbq sauce, kewpie and crispy onions.The filling here was tender and the sauce was tasty (but a little too heavy if you must ask).

The Clam Alamb a Ding Dong – a baked stuffed clam pie  with chowder sauce. I didn’t really get a clam taste on this one, garlic overpowered this pie, but don’t get me wrong, we ate this one all up!

The Steakbomb Sub – Short rib, pastrami rub mornay, whipped salami, peppers and onions. The meat was peppery and flavorful and the sauce was thick and creamy – a really well done pie.

Crawfish Pie – Fritos, jack cheese, smoked monsanto corn, essential andouille oil. I love fritos on anything nd this was just perfect. There was a nice crunch and a little bit of a kick – another flavorful pie.

The Pork Hat Pie. I liked the pickle addition, it gave this pie a little but of a punch and the mashed potatoes inside were delicious.

The Chili Mac Smack – with short rib chili, tallegio mac n’ cheese and a wild mushroom salsa. This was one of my top choices – the mac n’ cheese was delicious and the mushrooms melded really well here.

The Ruben – with swiss cheese mornay, mustard, pastrami and kraut. You know Chef Nookie from Commonwealth was going to go big or go home, and he brought his A game with his pastrami pie. It was a like the perfect Jewish deli sandwich in a pie – the pastrami was well seasoned and while I generally don’t love kraut, this was a really nice addition to the pie – subtle.

Chicken and Quinoa Meatball Pie – with Chinese garlic sauce, spicy mayo and spicy peanuts. Kate Holowchik was the only female chef in the competition tonight, and she brought it with her chicken meatballs. While I generally shy away from chicken meatballs in general, these were really flavorful and the perfect texture. The pie would have been perfect on its own, even without the sauce.

Check out the fun photos from the night, courtesy of The Danger Booth! Congrats to all the participants – all the pies were delicious! The winner of the battle was Chin Kuo with his Lobstah Rangoon pie. Nice work Saus for bringing home the championship for the third time!

Participants included:

Samuel Jackson, Michael Serpa, Chris Douglass, Mike and James DiSabatino, Steve “Nookie” Postal, Ryan and Kevin McGuire, Kate Holowchik, Matt Drummond, Dan Amighi, Chin Kuo, Samuel Monsour, and Nicholas Dixon.

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Petee’s Pie Company is located on Delancy on the lower east side. I fell in love with the bakery the minute I walked in. Simple, cozy, authentic. Petra “Petee” Paredez grew up in bakeries and makes her pies with the best ingredients available. They use organic flour and grass fed butter from New York State and local ingredients whenever they can.

Chess Pie is a classic southern dish, and the Lemon Chess Pie ($5) is a twist on a classic, with freshly squeezed lemon juice and a little zest.  It was sweet and tart – so decadent!

The traditional Chocolate Chess Pie ($5) is made with eggs, sugar, butter and vanilla. Both pies were dense and delicious – they’d be great served up with some whipped cream and a warm beverage!

Petee’s Pie Company

61 Delancy Street, New York, NY

http://peteespie.com

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I had seen a friend pose in front of this sign on Instagram and thought, “I need to check that place out!” So I looked it up and tried to figure out a way to get myself over to Brooklyn from the city. I decided to get there by way of the New York Water Taxi. Such a great idea – the all day pas is $31 and boats run every 45 minutes. I picked up the boat at Pier 11 in lower Manhattan and took it two stops to Red Hook. They drop you off by Fairway Market and Steve’s is just a few short blocks away. The shop is in an industrial area but has a cute little picnic area out front with tables to enjoy your pie right on the spot!

Steve’s makes everything in house, using premium ingredients. They hand form the crust and squeeze fresh key limes (they even have a special regional dairy who routinely produces sweetened and condensed milk. You really can taste the difference when the pies are made fresh – the pie was sweet and a bit tart – it was just perfect.I had the single serve 4″ pies, but they also come in 8″ and 10″. I wish I had tried a “swingle”, a key lime tart dipped in chocolate, but it was early in the morning…and I thought I should wait until at least after eating lunch before I started on dessert. They come in a few flavors, there’s the La Victoria, topped with a layer of Chipotle puree then dipped in dark chocolate, the Raspberry Blonde is topped with raspberry puree and then dipped in Belcolade white chocolate, and the Raspberry Classic, our chocolate dipped Swingle topped with raspberry puree.

From the website: “Our location IS your best bet for purchasing a pie (in terms of freshness). We’re out of our “ff season” hours, so we try and stay open on Friday till 6-ish, Saturday and Sunday, 11:00 AM until sundown. Check the link for  the setting of the sun  which best determines our closing hour during the summer. We are semi-closed on Monday and Tuesday, semi-open Tuesday thru Thursday although the hours are random. You can call and make an inquiry, or just take a drive-by and see if the roll-up gate is up. I’d say if you arrived after 11:00 AM and before 3~4:00 PM, there’s a good chance you’ll catch us with the door open. Hint; if the roll-up door is completely down, we are closed. Banging, yelling or tapping on the glass will not help. This is typical of many businesses (gate down, closed for business.)”

Steve’s Authentic Key Lime Pie

85 Van Dyke St, Brooklyn, NY

http://stevesauthentic.com

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Quicks Hole is located in Woods Hole, just around the corner from the ferry to Martha’s Vineyard. Even in the off season, it was pretty busy with a constant stream of business. They caught my eye because they advertise lobster tacos and whenever they can, they buy fresh. Two good enough reasons for me to make a stop. So we order at the counter, one lobster burrito, one chicken taco and one “wicked local” salad.

The chicken tacos ($8.95) were excellent. They are going for that fresh ‘California style’ of food-and Id say its not half bad. Tacos came with a side of chips too!

The wicked local salad ($8.95) was  HUGE! The flavors were excellent. It came with Coonamessett mixed greens with cranberries, candied           pecans and goat cheese. LOVE candied pecans! This is seriously enough for two. The lobster burrito (not pictured) was tasty (market price) but it was a bit soupy for my taste. I can’t stand when you take a bite out of something and liquid comes gushing out. The lobster was good, but it was masked by the other strong flavors in the burrito, perhaps I should have had the lobster taco.

They set up is pretty open-a sprinkling of tables inside, a bar area, and a patio outside (musicians are there at night).  All in all, a pretty good place to eat if you’re in the mood for something light and fresh. For three people to have lunch it was $40. They are big into helping the environment, buying locally and having bio plastic utensils made from corn.

Quicks Hole 6 Luscombe Avenue, Woods Hole. www.quicksholewickedfresh.com

Day 2, trip to Chatham. We stop in at the Chatham Cookware cafe. Parking can be a bit tough-street metered parking and a small lot right off Main Street.  And after you’ve finished searching for a spot outside, you have to search for a spot to eat inside. Counter service only, order up and pay at the end of the counter, find a seat and enjoy.

It’s a cute little place, they have a sandwich counter in back, a dessert counter in front, and specialty goods to buy in between. We hover for a bit and manage to score a seat in the sunny window in front.

We stare at the dessert case, or maybe it’s staring at us. Lots of good looking selections here and they  even have some vegan options.

All the sandwiches have cute names. I order the chicken sandwich with cheese, bbq sauce and bacon pressed in a panini press. Pretty good, except for the fact that the cheese hadn’t melted-so it was in that weird in between state of not cold and not warm with a waxy consistency. The chicken was good-sliced very thinly, and the bbq sauce added some layers of flavor I really liked.

My dining companion had the chicken salad with walnuts and cranberries, lettuce and tomato on a white bread.  He reported it to be excellent (I’m not a chicken salad kind of gal). Chatham Cookware Cafe 524 Main Street Chatham.

On the way back to Falmouth, we make a pit stop at Marion’s Pie Shop (Open Mon-Sat 8am-6pm; Sun 8am-5pm) 2022 rte. 28
Chatham, MA 02633. Phone (508) 432-9439. I saw this place featured on some Food Network show, and have been meaning to get down here to try a pie. We arrive at about 4pm on Saturday-the line is out the door. By the time we get inside, there are no fresh fruit pies left, so we settle for two frozen pies and a key lime pie.

We get a large apple pie-we were instructed to let it thaw for the rest of the day and then heat it up for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

We also got a small cherry pie. I think that they probably use the same crust for the sweet and for the savory pies. I personally like my crust a little sweeter, and these were more plain. But judging by the lines that this place has, and their cult following, they must be doing something right. We stood in front of this guy who drove all the way up from Maryland for these pies.

The key lime pie was my favorite of the bunch, but how can you really mess up key lime pie. Good consistency, sweet and tart, good crust!

We then drive a bit further down the street to the Sundae School. We stop at the Harwich Port location (606 Main Street in Harwich Port) but they have 2 other locations,  381 Lower Country Road in Dennisport, and 210 Main Street in East Orleans. I have a friend who raves about this place-they make their own whipped cream. Say no more, you’ve convinced me to try this place out.

My companion gets the raspberry oreo, amaretto nut, and raspberry chip. All the flavors are amazing, but I love the amaretto nut (amaretto is an almond liquor).

Here’s a secret, I actually don’t like sundaes, well maybe I just don’t like hot fudge (gasp! I know) but I got one just to try the home made whipped cream. It was everything my friend said it was, and who doesn’t love a fresh Bing cherry instead of the bright red, sickeningly sweet maraschino cherries? Great ice cream, super creamy-I highly suggest you stop by if you’re in the area.

And finally to end the season right, an old post about the Clam Shack. Located at 227 Clinton Ave, at the entrance to Falmouth Harbor, the place is literally a shack. They are open Memorial Day to Labor day, 11:30am-8pm and they are insanely popular. They have some of the best fried seafood around. The place is crowded all the time! It’s super humid and hot inside, so try to get a seat up on the roof.

This place is no nonsense, your food comes on a plastic lunch tray and then you bring it to your table (if you have managed to score one). There’s all sorts of nautical things scattered around as decorations-makes the place a little kitschy…in a good way. Forget the decor, you’re here for the fried clams and the lobster rolls. The place is a bit pricey, but I think its worth it!

And you can’t get a better view, whether your upstairs on the roof (watch your step it’s steep) or outside at the picnic tables on the dock, you get a great view of the harbor and some of the amazing boats passing through.

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